To pay your COBRA premiums, send payment directly to the plan administrator named in your election notice, in the amount and by the method that notice specifies. Your first payment is due within 45 days of electing coverage, and every monthly payment after that carries a 30-day grace period. The amount is 102% of the plan’s full premium: your old share, your employer’s old share, and a 2% administrative fee. Miss any deadline by a day and the plan can end your coverage permanently, with no appeal.
What You’ll Owe Each Month
COBRA premiums equal the full cost of your plan plus a 2% surcharge, and 102% is the legal maximum a plan can charge.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4980B – Failure to Satisfy Continuation Coverage Requirements of Group Health Plans While you were employed, your employer likely paid 70% to 80% of that total and you only saw the remainder on your paycheck. Now you pay all of it.
For context, the average employer-sponsored plan ran about $777 per month for individual coverage and about $2,249 per month for family coverage in the most recent national survey. At 102%, that translates to roughly $793 for an individual and about $2,294 for a family.2Kaiser Family Foundation. 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey Your election notice lists the exact premium for each coverage tier available to you.
Rates are fixed in advance for each 12-month premium cycle, so your monthly amount shouldn’t change mid-year without notice.3CMS. COBRA Continuation Coverage When costs go up for active employees at renewal, they go up for you too, because your coverage has to match what current employees get.4U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration. FAQs on COBRA Continuation Health Coverage for Workers
The First Payment: 45 Days From Election
Once you submit your election form, you have 45 days to make the first premium payment.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1162 – Continuation Coverage The clock starts on the election date, not the date you lost your job.
Expect the first payment to be large. It has to cover every month going back to the day your employer coverage ended. If you lost coverage on March 1 and elected on April 25, your first payment covers March and April together. Coverage is retroactive to the day you lost it, so claims from that gap can be processed once the payment goes through. In practice, some providers will hold claims or bill you directly during the gap. After payment, those claims can be resubmitted under the plan’s normal rules.6U.S. Department of Labor. An Employees Guide to Health Benefits Under COBRA
The plan can accept your first payment early but cannot demand it before the 45 days are up. Paying sooner shortens the window where providers may balk at your claims.
Monthly Due Dates and the 30-Day Grace Period
After the first payment, premiums are generally due on the first day of each coverage month. Federal law requires at least a 30-day grace period after each due date, so a payment due June 1 is still on time if it arrives by June 30.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1162 – Continuation Coverage Some plans allow more. Thirty days is the floor.
If a payment lands after the grace period, the plan can terminate your coverage retroactively to the last day you paid through. There is no appeal, no second chance, and no federal mechanism to reinstate coverage lost to nonpayment. This is where most people lose their COBRA, usually from miscounting days or waiting for a reminder that never comes. Some plans send payment reminders. They are not required to.
If the plan suspends your coverage while it waits for a payment during the grace period, it must reinstate the coverage back to the start of that period once your payment arrives in time. Your coverage history won’t show a gap as long as the payment hits before the 30 days expire.
How to Submit Payment
Your election notice identifies the plan administrator (often a third-party company rather than your former employer), the payment address or online portal, and the account or member number you need to include on every payment.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1166 – Notice Requirements Read it carefully before you send anything. If the premium amount or deadline looks wrong, contact the administrator before the election window closes; a billing question is not a valid reason to miss a deadline.
Most third-party administrators accept payment through an online portal by bank transfer or card, and many offer autopay. If autopay is available, use it. It removes the single most common cause of lost coverage.
If you pay by mail, write your account number on the check or money order and send it by certified mail or another tracked service. Keep the receipt. If a payment is lost in transit and arrives after the grace period ends, proof of the mailing date is your only defense. A dated certificate of mailing carries far more weight than a recollection of dropping an envelope in a box.
Whichever method you use, verify after each payment that it was applied to the correct coverage month. Pull a confirmation from the portal or request one in writing. Keep a simple log of payment date, amount, confirmation number, and the month the payment covers. If the plan later claims a lapse and denies a medical bill, that log is your evidence.
If You Pay Slightly Less Than You Owe
Federal rules protect you against small shortfalls. If your payment falls short by no more than the lesser of $50 or 10% of the required premium, the plan cannot cancel coverage without first notifying you and giving you a reasonable period to pay the difference.8eCFR. 26 CFR 54.4980B-8 – Paying for COBRA Continuation Coverage Thirty days after that notice is generally considered reasonable.
The protection is narrow. A $100 shortfall on a $793 premium exceeds both the $50 cap and the 10% threshold, so the plan could terminate coverage with no cure period at all. Always confirm the exact amount due, especially right after an annual rate change.
Paying With HSA Funds
If you have a Health Savings Account, you can use the balance to pay COBRA premiums tax-free. The IRS specifically allows HSA funds to cover health care continuation coverage, which is one of the few exceptions to the general rule that HSAs can’t pay insurance premiums.9Internal Revenue Service. Publication 969, Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans
Once you’re on COBRA, you generally can’t keep contributing to the HSA unless the COBRA plan itself qualifies as a high-deductible health plan. The existing balance remains available to spend. For a substantial HSA, this can bridge the cost until other coverage starts.
Check a Marketplace Plan Before You Commit
Before you start writing checks, run the numbers on an ACA marketplace plan. Losing job-based coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and depending on your post-job income you may qualify for premium tax credits that drop the cost well below COBRA.10HealthCare.gov. See Your Options If You Lose Job-Based Health Insurance11HealthCare.gov. Getting Health Coverage Outside Open Enrollment COBRA’s value is continuity: same doctors, same formulary, same accumulated deductible. If you’re mid-treatment or close to meeting your out-of-pocket maximum, switching may cost more in the long run than it saves on premium. The 60-day window applies to both choices, so decide before it closes.